Neilie Anne Casey: Runners and a Torch

Published: December 3, 2001

There is no logic to any of it; that much is obvious. But the truth is that they did meet as freshmen, in logic class.

That was at Holy Cross, and Michael Casey still remembers the sight of Neilie Anne Heffernan's long auburn hair.

They were married on Cape Cod in 1996 "because it was meant to be," he said — their "incredible bond" only intensified when their daughter, Riley Eileen, was born nine months ago.

The Caseys were both runners. On Sunday, Sept. 9, they took their daughter on her first three-mile road race (Riley was the cute one in the jogging stroller).

On the night before the attack, the Caseys played a travel video of Bermuda, planning the trip for their fifth wedding anniversary, Sept. 21.

On Sept. 11, Mr. Casey kissed his wife goodbye and watched from the bedroom window upstairs as she left their house in Wellesley, Mass., at 5:45 a.m. "I flipped the light on so she could see me, and she turned and waved back as she left."

Thus this last memory before Mrs. Casey, 32, boarded Flight 11 on a business trip to California.

Now Mr. Casey has been asked to be one of the runners carrying the torch for the Winter Olympic Games in February, "in honor," he said, "of Neilie."